Innocent Child is a well established charity organisation dedicated to helping under privileged children in the United Kingdom and around the world. The sole objectives are to help children and persons who are in need due to reasons of poverty, sickness and distress, also offering help to the disabled, youth and providing sensitive arbitration within families. Innocent Child provides information to a degree of avocation and training, also focuses on human rights, equality and fairness in all aspects of life. Innocent Child works across the United Kingdom as well as in Asia, African and Europe helping children and families to improve their health, providing equipment for the disabled, helping with domestic issues, providing high quality medical services to the under privileged, disabled and destitute.
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A Pirate is a robber on the sea. Pirates attack ships and ports, stealing treasure and other goods. As soon as the first ships began to carry cargo, pirates began to plunder them, and they are still a threat today. About 500 years ago some areas became special pirate strongholds. The "Corsairs" swooped on vessels in the Mediterranean. The 'Buccaneers' of the Caribbean attacked treasure galleons on their way to Europe. The Indian Ocean and the South China Seas were also dangerous places for merchant ships to sail.
All pirates dreamed of gold and silver, some were lucky enough to capture ships packed with them in the form of coins, gold bars or finely made ornaments. But most merchant ships carried other goods such as cloth, coal or iron. Silk and porcelain were the most precious goods from China. The most famous treasure of the Spanish Main were coins, 'pieces of eight' or simply pesos. These were silver and as big as 50p piece. each one was worth about £15 in today’s money. Some treasure chests were full of jewels. There were diamonds from Africa, rubies and sapphires from Burma, emeralds from Colombia and pearls from the Persian Gulf. Many of these were made up into beautiful jewellry. Pirates also needed everyday things. If they had been away from land for several weeks, they would be glad to steal food, drink and other provisions. And fresh guns, cannonballs and gunpowder always came in useful.
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The term Corsairs refers to pirates or privateers who operated in the Mediterranean. The most famous Corsairs were Muslims from the Barbary Coast of North Africa. They plundered Christian ships, especially when the two sides were at war after the crusades began in about 1100AD. These corsairs were authorised by their governments to prey upon the shipping lanes of Christian countries. The Maltese Corsairs led the fight against the Turks, being led by the Knights of St. John. The Maltese Corsairs initially fought for religion, but after a while the rewards of piracy grew to greater appeal. Soon the Maltese Corsairs were full-fledged pirates, with no interest in religious ideals.
The two most feared Corsairs were the Barbarossa brothers. Aruj and his younger brother Hizir (Kheir) were born in Greece in the 1470's. Aruj began his career by attacking Aegean ships from his home island of Lesbos. After being freed from slavery to the Knights of Rhodes by Egyptian forces, he began working with his brother Hizir out of the port of Alexandria with ships provided by the local ruler. One attacked ships belonging to the Pope and even captured the town of Algiers in North Africa, but he was killed there in 1518AD. The other Barbarossa became an ally of the Turkish emporer.
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Initially hunter’s of cattle and pigs on the Island of what is now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Buccaneers got their name from the meaning of the French word "boucan" (which means barbecue), as they were frequently seen barbecuing their meat on grills (they learned this form of cooking from the Arawak Indians). The buccaneers were driven out by the Spanish, and the persecuted hunters banded with groups of runaway slaves, deserters, and other’s who hated the Spanish and sought vengeance on their vessels. The word buccaneer soon became common, and by the 17th century was used to describe pirates and privateers who had bases in the West Indies. The Buccaneers even invented a special kind of sword, the Cutlass. This began as a knife which they used for cutting up wild pigs. It soon become a broad, short sword which pirates and other sailors carried as their main weapon in battle.
Among the leaders of the Buccaneers was a Frenchman named Montbar, who destroyed so many Spanish ships and killed so many Spaniards that he was called "the Exterminator."
Another noted leader was a Welshman named Henry Morgan, who formed a fleet of ships and showed so much military skill that he took strong fortresses and towns, stealing a huge amount from the Spanish. Morgan became rich and went back to England, where he was knighted by Charles II. The Buccaneers were finally put down by the French and English governments.
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A privateer was a private ship (or its captain) authorised by a country's government to attack and seize cargo from another country's ships. The government of a country provided a letter of marque and reprisal to a shipowner that allowed him to arm his ship and attack other ships sailing under a particular flag. In return he received a share of the seized cargo, while the rest went to the government as payment for the grievance. A privateer looked very much like a pirate, and indeed this was the intention (and at times privateers would convert to piracy). The only difference was that pirates were considered outlaws by all nations, while privateers had immunity from the country that hired them, and were considered as prisoners of war if caught by other countries. Privateers were sometimes known as "gentleman pirates". Sometimes privateers would even be commissioned to hunt down other privateers, while some of the time, privateers would commit acts of piracy without being commissioned to do so if it fit the privateer's agenda. Even Sir Francis Drake (right) was a Privateer.
One of the most famous Privateers was John Hawkins. John Hawkins made many raids on treasure ships in the Spanish main, but he did not consider himself a pirate. He carried a letter from his Queen, Elizabeth I of England, which allowed him to attack ships from an enemy nation. England and Spain were not at war but they were enemies. Hawkins voyages made him very rich. He sailed to West Africa where he rounded up 400 slaves and loaded on board. Next he sailed to the Caribbean where he sold the slaves in exchange for gold, silver and pearls.
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Edward Teach was the most terrifying pirate on the high seas. He was named "Blackbeard", for his large black beard that almost covered his entire face. To strike terror in the hearts of his enemies Blackbeard would weave hemp into his hair, and light it during battle. Edward Teach was an unusually large man, carrying two swords, numerous knives, and pistols, he was feared by his own crew. At the sight of this pirate, many of his victims were quick to surrender without a fight. If they did, he would often at times just take their valuables, rum, and weapons - allowing them to sail away. However, if the vessel resisted capture, he would either kill the crew, or maroon them. Blackbeard needed to maintain his devilish image in order to maintain the respect of his crew (very few members of the crew doubted that he was the devil himself, very few didn’t fear him, and therefore they obeyed him).
Pirates often hid their treasure by burying it in a remote spot. Then they could come back and dig it up when times were quieter. Many believe that William Kidd buried a vast amount of treasure before he was captured. His piracy had gained him a huge amount of cargo. most of which he sold off or gave to his crew. But when he arrested in 1699AD he claimed that he had hidden ÂŁ100,000 of treasure. Since then hundreds of people have looked for it all over the world, but nobody has found a single coin.
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One of the most famous and ferocious female pirates on record is Anne Bonney. At the age of 16, Anne married a smalltime pirate named James Bonney. Anne and her husband set sail for New Providence, and once there, James Bonney became a traitor, turning in other pirates. Anne became disgusted with her husband, and turned her intentions instead to Captain Jack Rackham, more commonly known as Calico Jack. Calico Jack offered to buy Anne from Bonney, but Bonney refused. Instead, Anne was ordered to be publicly flogged and to return to her husband. Instead, Anne and Rackham fled in his ship, the ‘Revenge’, where Anne disguised herself as a man and joined the crew. Anne became a violent and talented pirate, who aided in the plunder and the battles of her crew mates. She was soon discovered to be a woman, but no one on board the Revenge seemed to mind. It was well known that Anne was Calico Jack's mistress, but she fought so well that the rest of the crew accepted her readily.
Grace O'Malley commanded a pirate fleet on Ireland’s west coast. She went to sea as a young girl and later moved into a massive stone castle right on the coast. Her fleet of twenty sailing ships and rowing boats attacked passing merchant vessels. In 1593 Grace gave up her pirate ways and begged Queen Elizabeth I for a pardon. She lived to be 70 years old. When she was pardoned she didn’t exactly give up piracy. She just handed her business over to her sons who carried it on.
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Use this page to draw a secret map to your treasure
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All pirates knew that discipline was necessary on board the ship. Here are some rules set down by captains John Phillips and Bartholomew Roberts. Before sailing, each crew member had to swear they would abide by the rules of the code of conduct.
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You’ve reached the end of the book, but we have one final puzzle for you. Hidden throughout the book are these four coins...
This coin is
This coin is
This coin is
This coin is
25p
50p
£1
£5
Grab a piece of paper and a pencil to use as a tally sheet. Now look at every page, and count how many of each coin you can find in this whole book. Not every page has a coin and some pages have more than one, so look sharp! Write the total number of each coin you find under its picture in the box above. HINT : The four coins on this page do NOT count! Now answer these questions... 1. How much is the total treasure of coins worth? 2. If you divide the booty evenly with your three best friends, how much would you each get?
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Charity Registration Number 1100337
Phone: +44 (0) 161 224 4343 Fax: +44(0) 161 248 4242 E Mail: hi@innocentchild.org Web : www.innocentchild.org Address: 315 Dickenson Road, Manchester, M13 ONR Published by Was Media Ltd.